Perhaps not the catchiest title for an album, ‘Laniakea’, for those wondering, is the supercluster of stars which includes the Milky Way, as well as 100,000 other galaxies (give or take a few).
If this all sounds rather grand, than that’s more than appropriate, as The Statue Thieves’ 60’s blues-psych monolith is similarly far reaching (in a musical sense, obviously). Psychedelia looms large, with every scuzz-drenched chord rippling through the kind of bluesy hazes synonymous with Pink Floyd’s early material, while the elixir of their music has been extracted from the LCD-laced waters of 1967. However, the resulting record is infinitely greater than the sum of its parts. ‘Laniakea’ is a 40-minute excursion into the depths of the human experience. Though the band uses psychedelia to transport the listener, it’s a journey so immersive that the record transcends one particular genre and is very much one of those albums which demands to be listened as a whole, rather than being casually dipped into.
‘Laniakea’ is only made more visceral by the fact that it was recorded to tape, within a two-day time frame. The band, comprising Craig Ingham, Ivan Muela, Gennaro Oliviero and Michal Domin, aimed to embrace the beauty of imperfections and capture the energy of the moment, mirroring their acclaimed live performances. This is a sentiment echoed in the record’s lyrical content, which guides the listener through hallucinatory tributaries about our experience on Earth. ‘Laniakea’ is an utterly beguiling experience to be savoured through headphones in a patchouli haze. It is the borderless scope and vision that The Statue Thieves bring to the music of fifties and sixties which they love which brings all these elements together under an umbrella that moves seamlessly from the ethereal to harsh reality.
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See The Statue Thieves Live:
25th May – Secret Sofar Sounds London show
19th June – The Victoria, London (album launch show)
21st June – The Railway Hotel, Southend
23rd June – Bar Loco, Newcastle
24th June – The Cannon, Milton Keynes